One of a Kind
by sparklyshimmer2010
Summary: She doesn't doubt that to someone, she could be truly special. She just wants that person to be Mike.


**AN: **My first time writing Tike! But I love them and I thought in the last ep Tina was right and Mike needed to at least apologize. So this is my attempt. My Klaine showed. Spoilers for "Props". Much much thanks to my amazing beta Hikari of the Moon! :)

* * *

Even though she's dripping wet and the material she just spent a fortune on is ruined, Tina can't help but smile up at Kurt and Blaine, happy to see them as themselves. Finn and Puck had been hilariously adorable, but Kurt hitting on her had been far too weird.

She looks around for all the things that had fallen from her grasp, thinking about the dream. Blaine startles her with a mild smack to the shoulder to get her to pay attention to the boys.

She blinks up at him for a second before murmuring, "Huh?" Her hand goes up to rub at the sore spot on her head.

She tries to pay attention to what he's saying, but it's just fast moving lips and garbled noise.

"Tina!" Kurt snaps, frowning at her.

"I don't think she's alright," Blaine mutters.

Realizing she needs to focus, Tina shakes her head in an attempt to clear it. "I-I'm fine guys. Thanks for pulling me out." She gives another small smile, starting to wring out her hair.

"Of course," Blaine says, but doesn't look completely satisfied with her response. He moves over to snag her phone from where it had skid to on the hard tiled floor while Kurt fishes out the bolts of fabric from the fountain. "Here's your phone, it doesn't look like it's turning on, though."

She sighs, anger and hurt coursing through her at just the sight of it, and shoves it viciously into her dress pocket.

Kurt comes back over, holding her two bags as well. When she looks up gratefully, she notices that a few people in the mall courtyard are staring curiously at her. Blaine, noticing her embarrassed flush, offers his hand out to pull her up. "Let's go get you dried up."

Tina quickly takes off her shoes – they slip easy in water – and accepts Blaine's hand.

The second she stands, she knows she's moved too fast. Her eyes cloud over, and she gets a cold, tingling sensation throughout her face. When she wobbles, Blaine quickly guides her back down to the edge of the fountain.

Kurt and Blaine exchange a worried look. The senior kneels down in front of their friend.

"Looks like you might have a mild concussion, hon. I'm assuming you drove here yourself?" Tina nods. "Ok, then Blaine will drive you home. Where are your car keys?"

"I wasn't done shopping for fabric -"

"Screw the fabric for now. We'll still be fine if we're a little behind schedule. You should get home and rest." He's dug out the keys by now, and starts to pass them to Blaine.

"I can drive home myself," Tina says, reaching to take them from Kurt's open hands.

"It's just to be safe," he tells her, closing his fist.

She grumbles under her breath but relinquishes the keys nonetheless. They're just being helpful and she's, unfortunately, presently in a generally terrible mood.

Kurt stands up and twists to his boyfriend. "I'll follow you in my car okay?"

As the two boys direct her out to the parking lot, they must have noticed she looked fairly miserable because Kurt turns to her sympathetically. "I can come over tomorrow after school to help with costuming if you'd like?"

This time Tina gives a genuine smile. "That'd be great, thanks Kurt."

In an effort to keep the cheer going, Blaine grabs some red fabric and attempts to wrap it around his boyfriend, who wriggles away squealing. "Blaine!"

He grins. "Just let me take a picture so Coach Sylvester will get off your back."

"What are you saying? That I wouldn't make a pretty woman?" Kurt pretends to be offended.

"I'm saying," he leans a little too far into Kurt's personal space, "that I prefer you in your dress pants and black vests."

"Still thinking about my prom outfit, are we?"

Blaine merely sends him a knowing look.

"Ugh, can't you two be a little less sickeningly sweet?" Tina's face is sour. "You guys are like…too much frosting on a cake."

"Ok, I know you're upset, and your insults could use some work, so I'm going to let that slide," Kurt states.

"Besides," Blaine says brightly, "the frosting is the best part."

* * *

Tina doesn't live very far from the mall and the drive is mostly made in comfortable silence. A question bubbles from her lips before she can stop it.

"You and Kurt support each other no matter what, right?"

He throws her a curious glance. "Of course we do. We're behind each other 100 percent."

"Even when you think each other is wrong?"

Blaine frowns, contemplating for a moment. "We challenge each other to be better, but we'll never make each other feel bad for something."

"Bad. Wrong. Insignificant. Worthless."

He looks at her again. "I know it's none of my business, but does this have anything to do with Mike?"

"He doesn't think I deserve solos."

"Tina, Mike is one of the nicest guys around. You know that. I'm sure he didn't mean –"

Her voice rises as she cuts him off. "He told me that I'm being unreasonable because Rachel Berry is one of a kind."

Blaine winces, because, okay, _ouch. _Nobody wants to hear their boyfriend say someone is more special than them.

"I mean honestly, Kurt was generous enough to give you the part in West Side Story. You're a junior."

"While I do agree with you that juniors should get just as many opportunities, I don't personally want to make any waves."

"I can understand that, Blaine. That's _Mike's _job anyway."

"Well I definitely think you should let him know how you're feeling."

"Isn't he supposed to _know_?"

"Communication is the key to every relationship. Kurt and I have an honesty policy. Look what happened when we lost sight of that."

"Oh I can be honest with him. But he's still going to have a lot of apologizing to do."

He gives her that one. "How's your head?"

"It kinda hurts," she admits.

"You might want to call a doctor. Head injuries are pretty serious."

They pull into her driveway, Kurt right behind them. They both fuss over her on the way in and let Mrs. Cohen-Chang know what happened.

When she's finally allowed to go up to her room and rest, she thinks briefly of calling Mike to let him know why she hasn't responded as of yet, and maybe just to talk. She takes a glance at her desk, where a picture of her and Rachel resides in a frame surrounded by gold stars and decides she's far too comfortable, annoyed, and exhausted.

* * *

Tina wakes up a few hours later to the shrill sound of their home phone. Downstairs, Tiffany Cohen-Chang picks up.

"Hello?"

"Tiffany?" Mike asks. "Is Tina there?"

"Oh! I forgot she said her phone was broken. Hold on while I go wake her up okay? I'm sure she'd love to talk to you."

"She's sleeping?"

"She hit her head earlier today, dear. She has a mild concussion."

"Concussion?" he flashes back to last year, during the football game where the girls had played and Tina had gotten tackled, and the worry that had taken over him briefly. "She's alright though?"

"Don't worry dear, she's just fine. Like I said, it's just a mild one. Let me just run upstairs real quick."

He hopes Tina isn't feeling too bad, because he wanted to have another try at convincing her to stop being so stubborn. Now wasn't the time for glee club to have any more conflict.

But Tiffany comes back on the line, and in a tone that doesn't quite mask her confusion, tells him, "Actually dear, she's not feeling too well. But she said she'd see you at school tomorrow."

"Oh." She can hear his disappointment. "Um, alright then. Thanks, Tiffany. Give her my best."

Tina's mom bids him goodbye and hangs up. He is left on the other end of the line, trying to figure out if she really is feeling that bad, or if he's just been blown off, and unsure about which one he'd prefer. She's never ignored him before.

He resolves to pick her up early the next morning.

* * *

As Tina gets ready for the day, she's feeling much better than yesterday afternoon. She is in a fabulous mood actually.

In that her head has stopped hurting and she no longer feels overwhelmed with her anger, but instead, confident. She is standing calm and resilient in her opinions.

After taking another look at the photo on her desk this morning, she'd decided not to begrudge the girl her solos. That's just the way Rachel Berry was. If she sang lead in two songs, and the Trouble Tones got their obligatory number, there wasn't really any extra room for Tina to get a moment herself.

And while she believes it wasn't unfair of her to want that, all in all Rachel was her friend and Tina wanted to give her this one last chance for NYADA. At least Rachel knows what she wants to do with singing in her life.

It was Mike that had hurt her the most. He was supposed to support her - believe in her.

Tina doesn't doubt her talent. She doesn't doubt that to someone, she could be truly special. She just wants that person to be Mike.

Today she's going to how him that he can't take his sweet, light-hearted girlfriend for granted. She can and will stand up for herself. And she won't settle for less than she deserves.

The doorbell rings just as she finishes her hair, so she grabs her school bag and makes her way downstairs. Both her parents have already left for work.

She's surprised to find Mike on the other side of her door when she swings it open.

He raises a hand in greeting, a nervous smile gracing his features. "Hey."

She raises an eyebrow in question.

"Your mom told me you had a concussion. I couldn't stand waiting till school to see myself that you were alright." His eyes rake over her. "Please tell me you are."

Damn it. In just two sentences and a concerned look in his eyes, she can feel her resolve starting to crumble. She gives him a tight smile.

"I'm fine. Really." She twirls around as if to emphasize her well being. While she's still mad at him, she doesn't want him to worry.

"What happened?"

"I tripped at the mall and fell into the fountain. Kurt and Blaine happened to be there and drove me home because I was a little dizzy."

Mike reaches out to rub her arm. "Does your head hurt?"

"Not anymore. Thanks for coming to check on me." She pauses. "I'm sorry I didn't talk last night."

He smiles. "It's okay. How bout I drive you to school?"

She nods, grabbing the bolts of fabric to work on during her free period.

In the car she wonders how best to start the conversation about how she's feeling. But Mike eventually brings up their recent disagreement himself.

"So you've decided to come back and be a team player?" he asks, gesturing to the fabric.

He sounds almost proud of the decision she's apparently made and she can only stare at him in astonishment.

"For your information," she hisses, "I'm letting it go for Rachel and NYADA alone."

"You still think _we're _being unreasonable?" He sounds mad.

"Yes, Mike I do. But you know what, that's not even really why I'm upset with you right now."

"What? Then why _are _you?" he pulls in to a parking spot in the school lot.

She unbuckles and turns fully to face him. "You're supposed to support me, Mike. You're supposed to –"

"I'm also supposed to be honest and tell you when I think you're being selfish."

"I was being _just _as selfish as Rachel, Mike! You can't wait until your senior year to do everything to get into college, okay? Finn backs her up one hundred percent. He fights for her, he defends her. He constantly tells everyone how she's our best singer. But instead of giving me the same courtesy, you sit there and tell me I'm being _selfish, _when you've never said the same thing about her_._"

She ends the outburst by getting out and slamming the car door.

* * *

Mike is in the weight room during gym, watching as Blaine punches the red bag hanging from the ceiling. Ever since the kids at McKinley High realized that graduation was coming up fast, Blaine in the weight room had become a fairly common sight. Mike is pretty certain there's a group of sophomore girls who ditch class every day to spy on Blaine from the double doors on the opposite end of the room.

"Hey man," Mike acknowledges, as he hops up on a table holding an assortment of coaching equipment.

"Hey." Blaine spares a glance at his friend, noticing the troubled look on his face. He stops his attack on the bag, taking off his gloves and wiping the sweat off his forehead. "What's up?"

If there's anyone who can handle and understand his girlfriend problems, it's probably this guy right here.

"It's Tina. She's been so confusing these last couple of days."

"Confusing? How so?"

"I just don't understand why she all of a sudden has to be in the spotlight. She's never asked for that before."

"And she's not allowed to change her mind? Not allowed to want to do something special? Sounds to me like she's just becoming more sure of herself," Blaine shrugs.

Mike frowns. "You're not asking for anything."

"I've had my fair share of competition songs."

"Okay, let me ask you this. Do you think I should be backing her on this, regardless of how I feel?"

Blaine sighs. "Look, all I really know, is that right now, in this moment, she's not asking to be in the spotlight at Nationals. She's asking to be in _your _spotlight."

The crease in Mike's forehead is almost painful now, as he thinks hard about this. "She knows she's the most extraordinary thing in my life," he defends.

Blaine gazes at him seriously. "I _let Kurt know _all the time that he's one of a kind."

Mike freezes.

_One of a kind._

Oh shit.

He practically runs from the room, skidding to a stop at the door to look back.

"Hey Blaine? Do me a favor?"

Blaine cocks his head to the side in question.

"Take care of Tina for me next year?"

Blaine smiles. "You got it."

And then Mike disappears.

* * *

He finally finds her in between fifth and sixth period. The moment she sees him, she goes to round a corner but he moves to block her path. She tries to brush past him.

"I'm sorry," he blurts, and she pauses. She can see the pain and regret in his eyes. "I never, _ever _meant to make you feel like you weren't special. Especially to me."

He pushes a piece of her hair away from the side of her face and lets his hand trail down to the base of her neck. Tina's eyes soften immediately.

"I should never have sent that text to you. When I said that Rachel was one of a kind, I meant that she has a scary passion for glee club. I was stupid, and clueless. I wasn't thinking about what it implied." His voice starts to shake so she intertwines their hands. "Tina, you are the most extraordinary thing in my life. You're absolutely amazing."

He steps closer, other arm circling her waist. He's glad that she lets him. As they gaze at each other, the people surrounding them seem to disappear.

"And there's no one I'd rather watch more up on that stage at Nationals. So if you want me to go into that choir room today, and fight for you, I will. I want to be by your side, just like you always are for me."

Her eyes are teary now, and she sniffles as she speaks.

"I just needed to hear you say that so much. For today, that's enough." She smiles brightly at him, wrapping her arms behind his back.

The tension ebbs away from him as he leans down to give her an Eskimo kiss.

"I love you Tina."

"And I love you."


End file.
